Press Cuttings July 2018 President Mario Fantin 0456 422 844 Committee Trevor Sleep Vice President Danny Cappellani 0408 322 143 Committee Bill Bussau Secretary Mario Anders 0418 564 852 Committee Bill Loughlin Show Director Mario Fantin and Gary Campanella 0456 422 844 Committee Hamish Lucas Newsletter Luigi DiBattista luigidibattista31@gmail.com Committee Graham Scott Webmaster & Treasurer Mario Anders 0418 564 852 Committee Wayne Harridge Past President Bill Loughlin Committee Gary Campanella The Guild encourages the responsible consumption of alcohol The Guild meets on the last Friday of each month (except December) at the Eltham Living & Learning Centre at 7.45 pm Next meeting: Friday 27 th July 2018 Guests interested in finding out more about the Guild are welcome to our regular meetings, as always. In This Newsletter: President s Press... 2 Forward Program for Future Guild Events... 4 Cabernet Heaven... 6 Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrel Takes the Storm Out of EDWG Members in 1977... 8 Wine Humour and News... 10 Trading Barrel... 12 Jo Illian Awards Forward Thinking... 13 Sponsors Corner... 14 1
President s Press The important thing to keep in mind this month is that entries for the Frankston Wine Show are due to be lodged by 27 July 2018. It is important that you enter your wines in this Show as there are many advantages. Firstly, you will get some feedback on how some of your older wines are tracking, but the big advantage of the Frankston Show is in relation to the feedback you will receive on your un-bottled wines. The comments received from judges at the Frankston Show will give you the opportunity to make some last-minute adjustments, particularly to your current vintage wines, before bottling and entering them in our own wine show in November. MEMBERSHIP FEE NOW DUE All current members should have received an email notice from our Secretary Mario Anders advising that membership fees are now due. It would be appreciated if you would renew your membership promptly and save Mario Anders the hassle of sending you multiple reminder notices. The membership fee will remain the same for the next financial year i.e. $30 for an individual and $35 for a couple. It goes without saying that this is great value for money considering the many benefits which can be derived from membership. I like to use the analogy that, if as a result of attending one Guild Night you learn how to save or improve your homemade wine, you have recovered your membership fee many times over! AGM TIME TO STEP UP You will see from our Forward Program that we will be having our AGM at the Monthly Guild Night scheduled for 31 August 2018. You will be receiving more formal advice and nomination forms from Mario Anders closer to the event. I would like both existing and new members to seriously consider joining the Guild Committee. The Committee is the engine room of the Guild where discussions occur about what are the best ways to service members needs. The existing members would love to see new people with new ideas join their ranks. The Committee meets monthly with committee members turning up whenever they can (details of Committee meeting dates are shown after the Forward Planner in this newsletter. FUTURE GUILD NIGHT THEMES AND PRESENTERS The Committee is currently in the process of compiling a program of themes and presenters for our future Monthly Guild Nights. They are very keen to hear any suggestions you may have in regard to future presenters and themes. If you are aware of anybody who you think would be an interesting presenter at one of our Monthly Guild Nights, please let me (Mario Fantin 0456 422 844) or Danny Cappelani (0408 322 143) know. PRESENTATIONS AT KNOX & DIAMOND VALLEY LIBRARIES Our presentation at Rowville Library late last year on making country wine out of what grows in your garden was so well received that the Guild has been invited to give similar presentations at both the Knox Library on 23 August and at Diamond Valley on 16 October. Gary Campanella, Danny Cappellani, Graham Scott and Wayne/Angela Harridge are planning the presentations. If you would like to be involved, please let them know, they will appreciate all the help they can get. TIME TO MAKE A MULLED WINE You will see that the theme of our August Guild Night is mulled wine. I am writing this article now because, by the time you receive the next newsletter, it may be too late for you to start making mulled wine to bring along and share at the August Guild Night. It is a tradition to feature mulled wine at our AGM which always falls in the middle of winter. Mulled wine is a very popular winter 2
drink in many European countries. It is a spicy wine which is served hot and really warms you up on a cold winter s night. It is easy and fun to make with many recipes available on the internet. Can I suggest that between now and our August Guild Night you try making some mulled wines and see which recipe you prefer then bring in your favourite to share. PHYLLOXERA BOUNDARY CHANGE PROPOSAL FOR YARRA VALLEY As guild members we need to be aware of how we can spread phylloxera if we are not careful. Grape growers in the Yarra Valley are being advised to ensure that anyone coming on to their vineyard is wearing clean clothes and that their footwear is clean and disinfected. Disinfection of pruning snips, picking snips, shovels and other small hand tools that come into contact with soil and grapevine material is also being recommended. For more information please refer to the following websites: admin@vinehealth.com.au http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/horticulture/wine-and-grapes/viticulture-biosecurity/tacklingphylloxera NEXT MONTHLY GUILD NIGHT FRIDAY 27 JULY We are in for a special treat at our July Guild Night. Have you ever asked yourself the following questions? Why is the first taste of wine unreliable and misleading? Why does the shape of the glass influence the perception of wine aroma? Why do you enjoy wine more if you eat rather than drink it? What are the three senses involved in a wine experience? Graham Scott will be taking us through a number of wine tasting exercises which are aimed at improving your wine appreciation and judging skills. Following these exercises, you will able to understand the approach adopted by wine judges when assessing your wine at a wine show. Following Graham s presentation, during the monthly Members Corner session Danny Cappellani will lead a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the different closures available for bottled wines. He will also seek your opinion on what grape variety the Guild should seek to procure for the group purchase next vintage. What a jam packed educational night not to be missed! Also, remember that you are welcome to bring any of your wines to any Guild Night if you would like some feedback or advice about them. This will be a great night, I look forward to seeing you all. Cheers Mario Fantin President 3
Forward Program for Future Guild Events DATE Friday 27 July 2018 Friday 27 July 2018 Thursday 23 August 2018 Sunday 26 August 2018 Friday 31 August 2018 Friday 21 September 2018 (Brought forward by one week because of AFL Grand Final holiday on last Friday of September) Tuesday 16 October 2018 ACTIVITY Monthly Guild Night Graham Scott will take us through a number of wine tasting exercises which are aimed at improving your wine tasting and judging skills. Following these exercises you will able to appreciate to approach adopted by wine judges when assessing your wine at a wine show. During the monthly Members Corner session Danny Cappellani will lead a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the different closures available for your bottled wines. He will also seek your opinion on what grape variety the Guild should seek to procure for the group purchase next vintage. Entries due for Frankston Wine Show Knox Library Guild presentation on how to make country wine from what grows in your garden or what can be readily purchased at the supermarket. Focus will be on raspberry winemaking. Presentation starts at 6:30pm. Frankston Wine Show Public Tasting Day Monthly Guild Night AGM night. Our special guest speaker tonight will be Bill McGillivray who has a regular segment on wine at Plenty Valley Fox FM radio. He will be very interesting to listen to for his perspective on what trends and developments are happening with wine in general. Also being the middle of winter, the Guild tradition for this evening is to discuss and sample mulled wines. If you have never made a mulled wine have a go at making one, there are lots of recipes on the internet. We will also taste any other wines brought in by members for appraisal and discussion. Monthly Guild Night Tilly Bowden from Enartis (to be confirmed) Diamond Valley Library Guild presentation on how to make country wine from what grows in your garden or what can be readily purchased at the supermarket. Focus will be on raspberry winemaking. Presentation starts at 11:30am 1pm. 4
Friday 26 October 2018 Saturday 10 November 2018 Sunday 11 November 2018 Friday 30 November 2018 Monthly Guild Night Agenda under development by Committee suggestions welcome EDWG Wine Show Judging Day EWWG Wine Show Open Day Monthly Guild Night End of year breakup show off your wine show medal winning wines! Committee Meeting Dates Members elected to positions on the Guild Management Committee meet every month. Every second month either Guild business or the Wine Show is discussed. Committee Members Mario Anders, Danny Cappellani, Trevor Sleep, Bill Bussau, Gary Campanella, Mario Fantin, Wayne Harridge, Bill Loughlin. Hamish Lucas, Graham Scott Guild Business Meetings Agenda: Guild Night Program, Membership, Winemaking Education Initiatives, Social Events, Financial, Website, Guild Promotion. Meeting Dates (Wednesdays): 7 February, 11 April, 13 June, 15 August, 10 October Wine Show Meetings Agenda: Marketing, Logistics, Sponsorship, IT, Judging, Financial, Governance (Loïc Le Calvez also attends these meetings) Meeting Dates (Wednesdays): 7 March, 9 May, 11 July, 5 September, 7 November Visitors Welcome Members are welcome to attend committee meetings as visitors. New ideas and suggestions for improvement are most welcome. If you would like to attend please contact the President or Secretary. The Committee meets at 8pm Eltham Living & Learning Centre. 5
Cabernet Heaven Archangel Lindsay (aka Corbie) came down from heaven with the meteorological tablets of our version of the Elysium Fields called the Yarra Valley. He proceeded to intone, more by implication that direct commandment, that the quality of the wine depends mostly on the quality of the microclimate the weather gives use each year. Bugger the wine maker; she/he can only apply their skills within the parameters the weather gives us. By precept and example he had seven annual examples and a mystery wine to prove his point Lindsay took us through the arcane delights of monthly temperature and rainfall statistics, and the relationship between degree day totals and rainfall. This was quite a trip. We needed good wine to take it and Lindsay provided that with nonchalant ease. Gawd he s good. We were limited to three wines a set. The first three were Cabernets from 2011, 2012, 2013 The 2011 came from a moderately warm year with quite high rainfall broad acid and soft tannins gave it a significant mouth feel. 2012 has lighter in temperature but had far less rainfall and the wines as stronger and more assertive. 2013 had the highest degree day reading of the three and also a relatively low total rainfall figure and this translated into a thinner wine with higher acid and low fruit characters. This is said within the parameters of all of them being good wines that you would be pleased to have in your cellar. Putting them beside each other allowed us to define the effect that climate has on the end result. Then 2013, 2014, 2015 and the subtleties came out. 2014 had the third highest degree day reading of the night and the second lowest rainfall. Result was amazing. Great fruit on the palate and the acid spine just ket the wine flowing over your mouth. 2015 had even more heat and less rainfall and was a huge surprise; the fruit and the cassis were striking, and the heavier tannins gave this wine character and rigour. To continue, after the Socratic discussion led by Lindsay, the 2016 had what looked like medium heat overall and the third highest rainfall so it looked like a god general year. Alas the wine was not of that ilk having a high acid level that dominated what fruit was there and that was a tad green. And last year 2017 had the tope heat reading and second top rainfall so what could we expect? Well it was a much softer broader style of cabernet with black current overtones and just a hint of mintiness. So, which did the assembled palates favour? Heavy discussion ensued but the 2015 took the overall rating. Lots of support for the 2017 and a few hung out for the more mature 2012. And Then There Was More!!! With our new found technical knowledge safely tucked in our cheeks we locked our lips on to Mel Presidente s 2017 Cabernet which was mellow and had a lovely long finish. David Pope put forward his 2016 which, coming from our home territory was welcomed as a big fruit driven wine with a grip on your cheeks like a vice. Will be around for ages. And David Hart weighed in with a blend of 2015/16 to show that blending is an art and can being out the best of both worlds. A swingout of our area came fro a South Australian wine and a 2015 Shiraz-Cabernet-Merlot at that. But not your ordinary SA as this came from Dudleys on Kangaroo Island. A smooth fullbodied drop too. Go travel and get more. 6
Another grand night in Eltham. A heavenly experience and we praise the archangel Lindsay for the effort he put into recalibrating our tasting of Cabernets. Graham Scott 7
Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrel Takes the Storm Out of EDWG Members in 1977 http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/04/wine-aged-in-bourbon-barrels-takes-usa-by-storm/ Read this and laugh. This is the story of what happened to us in the olde days of the Guild, when we tried to do the same thing as is related in this news piece. They promote it as a new taste sensation. And for us it was, but not in the way they are presenting it. Our home-made wine had a purity and singular strength of taste that they could not replicate. Read on. Years ago it was 1977 in fact - a group of us in the venerable EDWG picked Shiraz at Connors lovely vineyard at Marong. 26 th May to be exact. It was a lousy day, rained and as it was an early pick the grapes were not in full ripe condition. At S.G. 76 ph 3.1 that would be an understatement. We took off 16 boxes and brought them home in two 44 gallon drums, sulphited of course. We divided it amongst the group which included, wait for it, engineers. We ll age ours in a barrel, they said. Trouble was we didn t have a barrel. We ll get one, they said and proceeded to buy a bourbon barrel, which was cheap. It seems that in those days bourbon came here in a barrel but that same barrel couldn t go home as the next lot of bourbon had to come to us in a NEW barrel. This one had too discernable pong of old bourbon. How to get rid of that was the next object of the exercise. We ll get rid of that, the engineers exclaimed. It s all in the charred lining of the barrel. And so, the PROJECT was started. The gleam in their eyes was discernable too. Like those of the engineers in charge of the Kings Street bridge; and the Westgate bridge. High in altruism but a faintly discernable lack in thinking it through. They set up rollers in Neil McGilp s back yard. They attached a washing machine electric motor to a loooong belt to a pulley on the said set of rollers. They put a half load of gravel in the barrel with water, put it on set up to churn over half of the barrel and turned it on. The rumbling went on for a fortnight day and night. Neighbours complained. They reversed the process to churn over the other half of the barrel and turned it on again. Neighbours sold up and moved away but the project went on. The day came when the Engineers proclaimed the barrel was clean. Unsullied. The word virginal was mentioned sotto voce and we were told to bring the Shiraz liqueur to be rested in this new temple of winemaking. And we did. This had been pressed out at my place in Taylor Street Eltham in April (Notes are hazy around about this time) bentonite added and it looked and smelt good. A tad sharp as was to be expected from the grapes but a placid wine. We left it for a year, topping up as the angels seemed to take more than their fair share now that the burnt inner layer was missing. Came the day of opening and the assembled multitude arrived, tasting glasses at the ready. And the result we all agreed was - RED COLOURED BOURBON. 8
High quality stuff but the smoky charred taste was still there. It lasted for years. We actually got third prize in the Eltham Guild Wine Show in 1978 where the judge stated that he could pick it had been in an American oak barrel. By Herculean efforts we all kept a straight face as he said that; even an asthmatic with a head cold could have smelt it. I still have the certificate, sighted by President Joe Ilian. So there! I have to acknowledge that in the fullness of time it became a good drop. The oak came back from the blackness and the taste was balanced, so long as you didn t know the back story and looked for the slight, subtle but still faintly discernable taste of char and bourbon. Graham Scott 9
Wine Humour and News HUMOUR Four brewery presidents walk into a bar in Chicago. Carlos Fernandez from Corona sits down and says, Hey, Senor, I would like the world s best beer, a Corona. The bartender gives it to him. Then August Busch says he wants the best beer in the world. Give me The King of Beers, a Budweiser. The bartender gives him one. Pete Coors says, I d like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water. Give me a Coors. He gets it. Then Greg Hall, the owner of Goose Island Brewery, sits down and says, Give me a Coke. The bartender is a little taken aback but gives him what he ordered. The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask, Why aren t you drinking a Honkers Ale? Greg replies, Well, I figured if you guys aren t drinking beer, neither would I. 10
NEWS The following articles are brought to you by Graham Scott Merlot: much more than mellow Merlot. Poor thing. Abused for decades in Australia, often by famous winemakers who grew awkward clones and over-oaked it. And confused by Americans, who thought it mean mellow, mainly because the words to them sounded the same. There s hope, however. Various small producers faithful to the great Bordeaux wines of Pomerol are kicking serious arse with it, finally, in Australia. Blue Poles (Margaret River), Ruckus Estate Mérite (Wrattonbully), Broderick s Basket Range Wines (Adelaide Hills) and Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard (McLaren Vale) are my current faves.....(read more) https://indaily.com.au/eat-drink-explore/wine/2018/07/03/merlot-much-mellow/ WHY VICTORIA IS AUSTRALIA S BEST UNDER THE RADAR WINE REGION There s a lot to be said for the energising effects of a countryside escape and here on Australia s Mornington Peninsula, the potential for spirit-lifting is off the scale. From my hotel room s veranda, I m gazing across neat rows of fruit-heavy vines fringed by eucalypt and pinewoods, all ablaze in the evening s golden glow. As if that isn t lovely enough, a couple of wallabies bounce past and I can hear a kookaburra cackling in the distance.....(read more) https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/ausandpacific/victoria-australia-wine-tasting-region-morningtonpeninsula-montalto-a8442411.html 11
Trading Barrel ********************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************************************************** Apologies if I left off anyone s sale advertisements. Please resend or let me know if you have any items for sales, providing details and photos and send them to newsletter@amateurwine.org.au 12
Jo Illian Awards Forward Thinking By Gary Campanella Keep an eye on the Jo Illian Awards beyond this year and next few years. Start experimenting and making stone fruit Wines for the 2018 Jo Illian. Start your Chardonnay now for the 2020 Jo Illian. Check out the EDWG Fruit Report on our web site. Yes. Forward planning. I see some of our best winemakers doing it. Show Year Class Winner 2020 (Grape) Best Previous Vintage Chardonnay (WCP) TBA 2019 (Country) Best Stone Fruit Wine (CST, Any vintage, Any TBA Style, Includes CSP, Sparkling) 2018 (Grape) Best Previous Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon TBA 2017 (Country) Best Mead Wine (CME, includes JAO) Trevor Roberts 2016 (Grape) Best Previous Pinot Noir (RPP, 2015 or earlier) David Hart 2015 (Country) Best Country Wine (excludes Hybrid, Sparkling, Liqueur) Gary Campanella and Hamish Lucas 2014 (Grape) Best Current Vintage Dry Grape White wine, Danny Cappellani Any non-sparkling style, Any Varietal 2013 (Grape) Best Previous Red Blend Danny Cappellani 2012 (Grape) Best Previous Shiraz Gary Campanella and Jid Cosma 2011 (Country) Best Hybrid Neil Johannesen 2010 (Country) Best Herb, Grain, Flower, Veg Mario and Jean Anders 2009 (Grape) Best Current Vintage Rose Peter Belec 2008 (Country) Best Sparkling County Wine David Wood 2007 (Grape) Best Current Vintage Sauvignon Blanc NHE Johannesen 2006 (Country) Best Berry or Current Wine David Hart 2005 (Country) Best Other Fruit Wine Vinko Eterovic 2004 (Grape) Best Shiraz K. Furness, D. Markwell 2003 (Country) Best Mead Harry Gilham 2002 (Grape) Best Riesling Richard Skinner 2001 (Country) Best Raspberry Jacques Garnier 2000 (Grape) Best Pinot Noir Philip Hellard 13
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